Cav's Place

This may be a rushed review, but there wouldn’t have been that much to say either way. Hammers in the Wind is pretty average, or perhaps a better term would be common, in terms of writing and action and has little of note in terms of depth, worldbuilding or characters. For those reasons, coupled with the fact that it’s quite short but split in a relatively large number of chapters, which in turn are usually split into sections as well, it reads pretty quickly at least.
While I did notice some spelling and grammar issues, I wasn’t that bothered by them, though of course the fact that the book gave me few reasons to actually care for it may largely explain that. What did bother me, on the other hand, was the fact that events, decisions and revelations tended to just happen, without carrying the weight they should have carried, and plenty of things don’t quite seem to follow. That’s usually a matter of how it all feels, perhaps in large part due to that lack of impact I mentioned, the issues not being easy to quickly verify, but a few obvious continuity errors that struck me were how Boen was close to 50 in the inn but 60 on the ship, how in the last chapter Maleela was surprised by a certain character’s identity despite quite clearly knowing who he was and what he had done both before and immediately after, or even how the next book in the series is titled Wrath of a Mad King at the start of the excerpt but, correctly, Tides of Blood and Steel at the end of it.

Rating: 3/5

The daily protests continued during this period, as when I looked for them I even found a couple of posts mentioning a few people who showed up, again in Victory Square, even on December 25 and 26, but otherwise I haven’t seen these daily protests promoted or even mentioned by the activists or pages I’d normally check after December 23. As such, I’ll just set aside this part about the daily protests after mentioning that the event created for December 21 called for people to circle the Parliament in their cars, motorcycles or bicycles while the regulars continued the protest in the designated area, a few posts mentioning that some did do that for a while, and that the last event I saw created for such a daily protest at the Parliament, without any other special plans, was on December 22.

Moving on, last week’s main protest was scheduled on Saturday instead of Sunday, and people were also asked to start arriving in Victory Square at 4 PM, which was obviously far too early and just caused the handful who did arrive around that time to stand around for quite some time for no reason. Knowing that, I took my time and only got there at 5:40 PM, spending some five or so minutes longer going around the area before joining the others, not that there were that many more even then. Still, there were some 300, or even just 200 according to some media estimates, when the march did eventually start, at 7 PM, one hour later than planned.
Some of the protesters may have already left by then and it was obvious that many of the rest weren’t going to stay much longer if nothing was going to happen, which those who have become the more known faces of these Victory Square protests pointed out to the gendarmes when they explained why they wanted to start marching then, with so few, despite having apparently told them earlier that we’ll leave when 500 will gather. Not that the explanation did much good, the gendarmes obviously being quite pleased with the prospect of the protest simply ending there, without a march, but eventually we did leave, albeit only being allowed to use the sidewalk, plus the bicycle lane on a part of the route, considering the numbers.
Not much to be said otherwise, but since I did write down a few more times, I will say we reached the Royal Palace at 7:35 PM, stopping for a bit to hold a moment of silence, and got to the Parliament around 8:10 PM, joining the others who had chosen to go there directly a few minutes later. I guess some more people may have joined on the way, but the number of participants didn’t grow significantly and plenty of those who had participated in the march started leaving soon after reaching the Parliament. I for one wandered around a little, took the last of the evening’s pictures, and left as well at 8:30 PM.

Otherwise, on the morning of December 23, 43 groups and organizations involved in this year’s protests sent an open letter to the Prime Minister, requesting a meeting in order to have a “calm and rational” discussion about the current situation. That same day, the Prime Minister replied and agreed, offering December 27 as the date. As a result, seven representatives of those organizations met with him yesterday morning, stating that they do not go there to negotiate, but to demand, the demands being to immediately request the opinion of the Venice Commission regarding the proposed changes to the justice system, to delay the entry into force of these changes until the Commission will present its opinion regarding them, and to remove the Minister of Justice from office. In addition, at least one of the representatives brought up the matter of the way in which the public gatherings law is interpreted when it comes to protests, a discussion with representatives of the Gendarmerie apparently being supposed to follow as a result.
At the end of the meeting, the representatives of the organizations stated that they were disappointed with the result, though I’m wondering why did they expect anything to come of such a meeting. Either way, they stated that the only actual answer they got was to the first demand, and even that wasn’t a clear one, the Prime Minister merely saying that before the end of the year he’ll inform himself regarding the existing discussions with the Commission and will decide accordingly. The answers to the other two demands were apparently even more evasive, but understood as rejections. I’ll say again that it’d have been quite a shock if it’d have been otherwise.

Both those who attended the meeting and the other activists and protesters state that the only solution is to continue the protests, and now there are even more reasons to do so as well, yesterday’s major piece of news regarding these matters being that another proposal, making quite a number of things a whole lot worse, almost unbelievably so in some cases even when considering PSD’s insolence, has gathered dozens of signatures from PSD members and is actually being put forward. In spite of that, those who try to organize these protests to some extent seem to have finally realized that you can’t just keep pushing people to attend protests all the time, and even less so during this time of year and also when, unlike in many of the previous situations, this time around it seems to be a losing battle. As such, the next protest I saw announced is scheduled on January 20, when people from all over the country are called to Bucharest in what is hoped to be another massive protest, after people will have time to rest and recover, and likely to once again accumulate more discontent and anger as well, without constantly dissipating it all in small doses, on weekly or even daily protests that just keep getting weaker otherwise.

My phone is now 15 years old. Or, more exactly, at least 15, since I also mentioned five years ago that what I know is that it’s been in use since the Christmas of 2002, but it’s possible that it was actually purchased slightly earlier. What I could remember about that, and also how and when Andra gave it to me, is in that post, so no point in typing those few lines again.
Also no point in mentioning the problems it’s been having again, since they’re also in that post and haven’t changed much. It sometimes behaves oddly when it stays plugged in after it finishes charging, but I’m not sure that wasn’t already happening back then, so the only thing that clearly got worse is that the thing that holds the back cover in place also broke at some point, so now it’s held together by a rubber band. Found a store claiming to have both a cover and a battery for it, both very cheap, at some point, but after making the order they informed me that they didn’t actually have either, so that matter was dropped. Batteries for this old model seem to be available at specialized stores, or at least were available back then, but for way more, and had also found somebody selling the back of a case, but couldn’t quite justify that expense either, plus that, since the whole point is that I have it from Andra, changing the case would significantly lessen its significance in that way and I’d likely be better off getting a new one and keeping this somewhere, just as one of the few things I still have from her.
And that’s about it. After getting it past ten and then 12 years, the next target I had set for myself was 15. Had some plans for this milestone, but what, if anything, will come of those will remain to be seen. So the only point of this post was to mark the moment and I did that; anything else will have to wait for some other post, whether later this week or, well, next year.

Leaving the year’s second post in this series very late again, but at least it’s not the very last day again, so it could be worse. It’ll just include the usual five bands, so I’m not only failing that tentative goal of including 15 bands in such posts over the course of a year but also that of at least including more than ten, but this time around the five bands will be from the same country, namely Greece. The one I wanted to start with is from there, a new song that was recently posted meant I was just reminded that I was rather stuck on an older song of the second some time ago yet never included them in such a post, a previous vocalist of said second band led my mind to the third, and having the first three happen to be from the same country made me look for others from there that I had stumbled into over the years, remembering that I actually quite recently heard of the fourth as well. The fifth is somewhat forced, as I had something else in mind and their sound makes me say they’re not something I’d particularly want to include in such a post, but they have an album released this year, so decided to add them and make it five out of five.

That said, the band I mentioned above I knew I wanted to start with is Chrysilia, and that’s because I got really stuck on Desperate Wings when I first bumped into them, a few months ago. With The Menalon Trail being the only other original song they make available at the moment and the rest of their debut album not popping up right away at a quick search, this will be the second pick and it’s a good one as well, but Desperate Wings definitely fixed them in my mind and I found myself coming back to it quite a few times over these past few months, after listening to it many times on repeat at first. Like I already said, don’t know anything about the rest of their debut album, but judging by these, they’re something to keep eyes, and ears, on.

Next is Meden Agan, who have just released No Escape off their upcoming album, scheduled to be released in January. The song that made me keep them in mind is much older, however, and I’m referring to Everlasting Pain. They had a different vocalist then, but they seem to change them every album, since I actually remember them with Iliana as well, though I’m not sure whether that means I first bumped into them that long ago or I just looked up older songs when Everlasting Pain made me pay attention. Both may be true, as in I knew of them already, but only dug around more after getting stuck on that song. Either way, definitely knew of them for years and I’m a bit surprised I didn’t include them in such a post yet.

Since I mentioned Iliana, Enemy of Reality is the obvious next band I’ll list here, though they don’t have an album released this year. They’re not a band I recall paying particular attention to at any point, though I listened to Needle Bites a few times back when they released that video. So I’ll go with that as the first song I’ll link to here, and the more recent In Hiding as the second. Now that I just listened to what they make available, something definitely rubs me the wrong way about their sound, the songs don’t seem to flow, they seem complicated in a way that makes it rather a negative thing, but there are good bits as well, and Iliana definitely has quite a voice. If the “musical differences” that supposedly led to her parting ways with Meden Agan mean that this sound is her preference, I’d personally say it’s quite a pity, but that’s of course a matter of taste.

Moving on, Forbidden Lore is another actual recent find and the two picks are easy because they only have two songs available, Endless Run and Grace in Our Fall. A third song seems to have been included on the EP released last year, and at the time they were apparently all available for free download, but that doesn’t seem to be the case anymore. So there’s little material released so far, but it’s nevertheless enough to show a fair amount of promise.

As for the fifth band, that’s Bare Infinity and you can listen to the album they released this year on Bandcamp. As I already said, not particularly keen on their sound on it, so I’m going to pick Robin’s Eyes to link to, because it’s rather different from the rest, interestingly seeming to be the only song that their vocalist wrote by herself, in which case I’d say she should do that more often. The second pick, on the other hand, is the much older Always Forever Part I, which is the only one they still have on their YouTube channel from back when they had a different vocalist, so I’ll go with it since I’m in a hurry now, despite the poor audio quality. Personally, after quickly listening to some of their other older songs as well, I clearly prefer how they sounded back then, but that’s again a matter of taste.

I guess that’s it, and just barely in time to post before midnight and make it the week’s second post. Once again, the tentative goal for next year for this series of posts is to include 15 bands, likely in three posts, though the option of two longer posts remains as well. Never had three such posts in a year or more than seven bands in one post, which would be required to have 15 in only two, but who knows, maybe 2018 will be when that will happen. I’ll again say that I really should do at least this little, considering how many good or at least decent bands I keep bumping into.

This will be a rushed protest update, but it’s either this or nothing, already too much to cover anyway, so I’ll lump things together and go through others as quickly as I can. While daily protests have continued, just moving to the Parliament now, this particular stage of this battle is quite lost anyway, most of the proposed changes that have to do with the justice system passing through the Parliament and others being scheduled to do so soon, the ruling coalition having even changed regulations to prevent the opposition from even delaying them anymore. Saw a good post from Claudiu a week ago, stating that it’s time to regroup and prepare for the next stages, because the changes will be approved by the Parliament but there are more steps to come and that’s where the focus needs to move.

On December 10 there was another Sunday protest, with no march planned but people again being called to come to Victory Square from 6 PM, right after leaders of the groups that sort of try to organize these protests and those of opposition parties held a brief joint press conference. I for one got there at 6:50 PM, just when the gendarmes were stopping traffic on the surrounding roads, with the exception of the one separating the area from the Government building, and left at 9 PM, when those remaining were singing the anthem and the large number of gendarmes in riot gear which had apparently been in the area but which I for one just spotted at that point, around the side of the Government building, were just clearing away. According to reports, the protest was dying out around 9:30 PM, with mere hundreds remaining, but estimates are of about 15000 at the peak. I thought there had been even more while I was there, but since I’m not seeing higher numbers from reliable sources, I guess I’ll have to go with that. Otherwise, you can have a look at the pictures I took, which also include the group carrying around crosses with major problems of the health system written on them, but sadly do not include any signs of solidarity with Polish protesters, because I could find none even though there had been an “official” post asking participants to show their support for them that evening.

While the Victory Square regulars were obviously going to continue, activists that were part of the United We Save movement and the groups formed by some of them, referring to those not keeping a low profile or even pretty much staying out of these protests completely, seemed to allow December 11 to be a day of rest, relying on the fact that the Parliament had the solemn session marking the death of Romania’s former king scheduled then, with the Chamber of Deputies’ next attempt to approve the changes scheduled for the following day, when a daytime protest at the Parliament was planned. However, the ruling coalition decided to change the schedule, voting on those changes right after the solemn session, the hastily modified regulations preventing the opposition from delaying the vote once again, despite trying other methods. As a result, that scheduled Tuesday protest was moved to Monday and there was no day of rest.

Protests, not exceeding a few hundred participants at the peak, continued every evening after that, mainly at the Parliament, across the road from the Chamber of Deputies entrance. One exception was December 19, when an event was created for a protest at the Senate entrance as well, since the laws had moved to the Senate, which was to give the final vote, yet the Senate’s session ended in the afternoon and all members of the Parliament moved to a joint session in the Chamber of Deputies, so the planned protest wasn’t split for long. Another exception, however, still continues, and I’m referring to the silent protest in front of PSD’s headquarters, started on December 13 and inspired by the similar protest started on December 11 in Sibiu, a small number of people taking turns to simply stand watch, the protest also using the “we see you” slogan as a name.

In terms of other organizations staging protests supported by the known activists or formally supporting these protests themselves, I’ll mention that unions organized a protest on December 12, some known activists and groups openly supporting them and some, or at least one of the few that I actually follow, actually attending and feeling very much at ease, unlike previous times when known activists had been kicked out of union protests for education or healthcare, for example. Next, on December 14, several dozen groups and organizations signed an open letter describing the situation and asking for support from European institutions and other foreign allies. Then, on December 18, hundreds of judges and prosecutors held a silent protest on the steps of the Palace of Justice, similar protests taking place in other cities that day. In addition, student organizations formally announced joining the ongoing protests on December 19, and this was followed the next day by law students staging a silent protest as well.

As for December 17, the day actually started with a flash mob, hundreds of people answering the call to start gathering in Victory Square at 3 PM and, from 3:30 PM, stand silently, with their eyes and mouths covered by black bands, despite the rain. After that, from 5 PM, the main protest started, a march being scheduled to start at 6 PM but that only happening at 7:15 PM, the numbers being sufficient to simply do so despite the gendarmes having refused both proposed routes. There were some tense moments at first, images showing a couple of protesters being handled roughly and even kicked by gendarmes as they tried to stop us from marching, but they quickly gave up on that attempt and, after quite a number of them rushed to the front of the column and held it back for a few moments longer in order to allow more of the other participants to catch up, things were largely calm until we reached the Parliament, around or maybe a little over one hour later, when the situation got somewhat tense again because the gendarmes stopped the protesters at the corner, blocking the march from reaching the Chamber of Deputies entrance.
Thousands of people took part in the march, known activists eventually seeming to agree on around 5000, though I saw a few higher estimates as well, despite the fact that all of this took place under constant precipitation that turned from rain to sleet to this winter’s first snow and back again. This is also why I didn’t check the time to know when various points along the route were reached and didn’t even write down the exact moment when the Parliament was reached, but I did still take some pictures and can say that the march turned silent while passing in front of the Royal Palace. Can’t say much about what happened at the Parliament, on the other hand, since I left soon after we were stopped there, first having a quick look at the Christmas fair in Constitution square and just passing by the area again as I was leaving, around or maybe a little after 9 PM, to see a much reduced number of protesters surrounded by gendarmes, who were gradually pushing them back to the sidewalk. I see reports of further tensions as a result of that, but eventually the protest ended with no further significant incidents, at least as far as I’m aware.